A so far little noticed plan to simulate a nuclear strike on an underground bunker will be carried out this summer in Nevada. It has so far been given little attention. The sheer clutter of daily news stories indicating that our government is off its rocker has served well to desensitize us to these frequent and shocking revelations.
The bomb, named Divine Strake will involve detonating an ungodly amount of explosives in order to help design a new line of 'smart nukes' to use against bunkers, specifically with Iran in mind.
A group of scientists have written the president and explained that even a small, one ton device in Iran would likely kill millions of people by the fallout and spread of radiation to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Google it.
If it weren't crazy enough that our government is furthering the cause for nuclear armament, after years of moving towards non-proliferation and reduction of these weapons, what seems most crazy to me is the name Divine Strake. NPR did a report that seems to explain the name choice as just part of a naming convention, like we name storms, and that it was purely coincidence that this name has come to term. Perhaps that is so. But the idea of naming a whole series of bombs that imply God's approval of their use is absolutely crazy. Who decides to allow these names to be used, especially at a time when religious tensions underscore the current 'war on terror'? Whoever the decider is, needs to be questioned. What next, the Jesus Missile?
We need to step back and look at what is going on for a second here. Our government is taking us down a dangerous path. God could not possibly condone using nuclear weapons, at least not the New Testament God. I'm sure David Cook would agree. If we allow this madness to continue, we should all be considered off of our rockers. We need to fix our government and our military leadership before it is too late.
Frank Petrachi
Chattanooga
frankyp@bellsouth.net